Bendeela Camping; wombats and river front bliss

Want to camp on beautiful green grass, next to a beautiful river with wombats and kangaroos everywhere at the end of each day, for virtually nothing? Bendeela Camping Reserve is the place you’ll want to visit!

Bendeela Camping is amazing — Our setup at the beautiful Bendeela Camping Reserve

Wombat near our camp at Bendeela — Want to see wombats in the wild near your camp? Bendeela is the place to go

After 5 weeks in Perth we flew back to Sydney, and spent a further night at Poplar Caravan Park to reorganise our camper and 4WD, and to get the service done. This did not go smoothly at Camden Valley Isuzu, and along with the time difference and trying to get the kids back into a routine we were very keen to escape the city, and head bush. Bendeela Camping Reserve was everything we thought it would be, and more.

Where is Bendeela Camping Reserve?

You’ll find this little slice of paradise about 15 minutes out of Kangaroo Valley, or just over 2 hours drive South West of Sydney.

Bendeela River views — The camp ground is right on Kangaroo River

What does it cost to camp?

Would you believe me if I told you that you can camp here for $6, for up to 7 nights? Yep, its an absolute steal, and that’s without looking at the amenities that they have, which are well above average.

Lots of room to camp — It’s an absolute steal to camp here

Amenities at Bendeela

Bendeela has a number of toilet blocks, massive grassy areas and a number of day use areas where you can launch kayaks, and swim from. There’s two dump points, and security/NSW waters going back and forth several times a day.

Dump point at Bendeela — Its uncommon to see dump points in these sort of camp sites, but there’s two

Smaller toilet block at Bendeela — One of three toilet blocks, with a few portables around the place too

Rubbish bins at Bendeela — Big rubbish bins so the area stays clean

Fires at Bendeela

There’s a full ban on camp fires here, all year. I’m not exactly sure why, but it’s a small price to pay for everything else you get.

Do you need to book Bendeela?

Yep, you need to book online on the NSW parks site. The camp site is split into two areas, and they don’t open the other section unless its peak season. The numbers are capped though, and you will miss out on busy weekends.

Camping at Bendeela gets busy — This gets very busy, and booked out

Wombats and Kangaroos at Bendeela

Having driven most of the way around the country and not seen a wombat in the wild, we were incredibly keen to see one. We’d been told you were virtually guaranteed to see them, and on the first night I spied one after dark not far from camp.

The next night, we went for a walk just as the sun was starting to go down a bit, and we saw two very quickly, and then many more after that. They’re incredibly tame too, with people easily getting close enough for a photo, and none of them taking off with a fright.

Wombat crossing the road — There’s a lot of wombats around

A big, beautiful Wombat at Bendeela — I sat and watched this wombat for a long time

I took our oldest son to the toilet at about 8:30PM, just as it was getting dark and as we stepped out of the camper I noticed a big Wombat coming straight towards us. We stood still, and it walked right next to our feet, over the camp mat and under our camper, where it sat for some time.

They like to rub their backs on things underneath, and they frequently rock your van and vehicle around in doing so.

It is worth noting that you shouldn’t leave anything outside that you don’t want pooped on. We slid our new stand up paddle board underneath our camper and found it quite dirty the next day, along with a mess on our camp mat, and poo all around camp. It does smell a bit, so there’s always a con to having the wombats around.

You’ll see plenty of wallabies and kangaroos around, along with a good array of bird life too, which was pretty awesome.

Wombats galore at Bendeela — I reckon we saw at least 15 wombats over 3 nights

Swimming, kayaking, fishing and SUP use in the river

On our way to this camp, we called into BCF and picked up a Tahwalhi inflatable stand up paddle board for $249. We’d talked about it for years, and we finally decided it was worth the extra weight and space, and set it up at camp. The river here is pretty wide, and perfect for swimming, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding and fishing. We spent hours going up and down, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Stand up paddle board fun — We had a heap of fun enjoying the river

Bendeela River Fog — The river is easy to get into, relatively clear and wide

The water is cold, but not freezing, and it’s a great place to be.

Fitzroy Falls

Roughly 25 minutes drive away from Bendeela Camping Reserve is the Fitzroy Falls, which are pretty amazing, and have a number of different walks you can do. The information centre is interesting as well, and overall its just a great place to check out.

Fitzroy Falls in Portrait — Looking back at the falls from one of the further lookouts

Cooper at the information centre — The Fitzroy Falls information centre is worth a look too

Should you stay at Bendeela?

Overall, this is a ripper camp site. I don’t know why its so cheap, but it’d easily be worth more. If you’re anywhere nearby, book yourself a few nights and soak it up!